- Germany: Berlin court sentences a doctor to life for murdering 15 patients under palliative care
Source: Associated Press
“A Berlin court on Wednesday convicted and sentenced a German doctor to life in prison on charges of murdering 15 of his patients who were under palliative care, in a case involving allegations he torched the homes of victims to try to cover up the crimes. The 41-year-old doctor, who has only been identified as Johannes M. in line with Germany’s privacy rules, went on trial nearly a year ago at a Berlin state court. Part of an end-of-life care team at a nursing service in Berlin, he was initially suspected of the deaths of four patients. Prosecutors eventually accused him of the deaths of 15 people between September 2021 and July 2024. The Berlin court found the physician administered a lethal mixture of various medications to 12 women and three men, German news agency dpa reported.” (07/08/26)
- Waymo goes driverless in Las Vegas, with Denver, San Diego, Tampa next
Source: Electrek
“Waymo has activated fully driverless operations in Las Vegas, its riders will now see vehicles with no human at the wheel, and the Alphabet unit says Denver, San Diego, and Tampa are next in line. The move adds four new markets to Waymo’s driverless footprint and pushes the company deeper into its target of 1 million paid rides per week by the end of 2026. … Waymo now operates a fleet of roughly 3,500 robotaxis and has surpassed 20 million trips. It was providing around 500,000 paid rides per week across its existing markets earlier this year, which include Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando.” (07/08/26)
https://electrek.co/2026/07/08/waymo-driverless-las-vegas-four-new-cities
- Sudan: Drone strikes on civilian vehicles kill at least 20, rights groups say
Source: ABC News
“Drone strikes on civilian vehicles headed to social gatherings in Sudan have killed over 20 people in recent day, according to rights groups, as the use of unmanned aircraft becomes increasingly common in the north eastern African country’s war. A drone hit the outskirts of Khartoum killing 10 civilians, including five women from the same family, as they drove to a wedding, the Sudan Doctors Network said Wednesday. The medical aid group, which has been tracking violence between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces throughout the war — which is in its fourth year — blamed Tuesday’s attack on a road west of Omdurman, the sister city of the capital, Khartoum, on the RSF. All of those on the vehicle, which caught fire, were killed.” (07/08/26)
- Bezos’s Blue Origin valued at $130 billion in first public fundraising round
Source: CNBC
“Jeff Bezos’[s] Blue Origin is raising about $10 billion, in its first outside funding round that will value the rocket company at $130 billion, sources told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin. Bezos is set to contribute $2 billion into the round, along with about $4 billion from hedge fund Coatue Management, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the details are private. The remaining $4 billion has seen significant demand, with several major investors expected to participate, the people said. … Bezos has in the past funded Blue Origin solely through sales of his Amazon stock. In 2024, Bezos said he believed Blue Origin will one day be a bigger company than Amazon.” (07/08/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/08/blue-origin-bezos-fundraising.html
- LPR cameras are watching you
Source: Eastern New Mexico News
by Kent McManigal“One of the most important fights in our lifetime, a fight for the future of America, is shaping up right over our heads. It’s the fight against license plate reader cameras and the related spyware that is already being used against you and your liberty. This may even be more important and urgent than defending the natural human right to own and to carry weapons without government interference. These data collectors will be used to violate your right to bear arms and all your other rights as well. If this is to be stopped, it must be stopped now. Before long, it will be too entrenched to stop.” (07/08/26)
- The Economic Morality of Rotisserie Chicken
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Angelo Monaco“Inflation has hit grocery bills hard over the last four years, making it incredibly difficult for middle- and lower-income families to stretch a budget. For $4.99, a family can provide a meal by buying a whole, fully cooked, three pound chicken. Pound for pound, it is one of the most efficient, nutritious, and accessible sources of lean protein available in the modern marketplace; it costs significantly less than one Big Mac while providing vastly superior nutritional value. … When describing my observation to a group of academics, rather than commenting on the economics of this phenomenon they angrily asked, ‘Do you consider the treatment of all those chickens to be fair?’ Huh?” (07/08/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-economic-morality-of-rotisserie-chicken
- Warren’s Plan To “Fix” Social Security Would Be Largest Tax Increase in Over 40 Years
Source: Reason
by Eric Boehm“Her plan is being pitched as a tax on the wealthy, but half the burden would fall on businesses. That would have dire consequences for the economy.” (07/08/26)
- A Song of FIRE and ICE
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson“Can we all agree that Todd Lyons is kind of a sissy? The former acting director of ICE, the immigration enforcement agency that Donald Trump uses as his personal, occasionally homicidal goon squad, received an email nastygram from the author of Best Bike Rides Connecticut, David Streever, who is exactly the kind of imposing, Jason Statham-esque tough guy you’d figure the author of Best Bike Rides Connecticut is going to be. The email was pretty mild stuff—Shame on you, basically. Compared him to a Nazi, etc. Lyons, who has 22,000 armed agents at his disposal, was so freaked out that he sent ICE agents to Streeter’s house and then tracked him down while he was traveling with his 7-year-old daughter.” (07/08/26)
- Don’t Lock Young Americans Into Social Security
Source: RealClearPolitics
by Sam Raus“The Social Security trust fund is projected to run out of money by 2032. Without legislative reforms, retirement benefits for tens of millions of Americans could face significant cuts. As lawmakers debate how to preserve the program, most proposals focus on raising payroll tax revenue or making other budgetary adjustments. But these discussions miss a larger point: The program itself is increasingly ill-suited for younger generations. Rather than forcing Americans into a system that may not deliver on its promises, policymakers should allow young workers to opt out and prepare for retirement in their own way.” (07/07/26)
- We Must Have a Rebirth of Instinctive Patriotism
Source: American Greatness
by Ned Ryun & Ed McFadden“On the nation’s 250th anniversary, the mayor of the country’s largest city sat at a desk once used by George Washington and told Americans what was wrong with American exceptionalism. The story of this country, he said, has too often been written by people told they did not belong. Its achievements were really won by the excluded, in spite of America. Dissent, not gratitude, he intoned, is the truest form of patriotism. It was a deceptive speech, and it deserves a response grounded in facts because the argument now runs well beyond one mayor. A rising movement has made the critique of exceptionalism something close to a creed. And it rests on a lie so foundational that, once revealed, the falsehood collapses. The lie is this: that American exceptionalism means Americans are exceptional people.” (07/08/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/07/08/we-must-have-a-rebirth-of-instinctive-patriotism/
- The Resilience Paradox: How Military Strikes Are Bolstering Iran’s Cohesion
Source: Antiwar.com
by Peter Rodgers“Wars are seldom judged fairly in the immediate aftermath. Generals and analysts often focus on tallies of destroyed sites, intercepted projectiles, and tactical wins. Yet the deeper political fallout usually surfaces later – and it has a habit of defying the expectations of those who started the fight. History offers plenty of examples where short-term military victories sowed the seeds of longer-term strategic setbacks. This reality merits close attention when evaluating the recent U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran. The central issue may not be simply how much Iranian military hardware was damaged. More important is whether the conflict has reshaped Iran’s internal politics in ways that run counter to what Washington and its partners hoped. If the goal of prolonged sanctions, isolation, and military action was to erode the Islamic Republic’s governing strength, the picture that’s emerging looks more nuanced than many anticipated.” (07/08/26)
- Why Americans Choose Domestic Travel in 2026
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey“Economic pressures and strict travel rules force Americans to cut back on international trips to places like the Bahamas and Jamaica. People choose to spend their money at home. They take vacations within the United States. We see this shift happening right now. The data show Americans changing their travel habits. Travelers from other countries do the same when visiting the United States.” (07/08/26)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/why-americans-choose-domestic-travel
- Why Are Democrats So Evil?
Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis“Recent Breitbart headline: ‘Report: Graham Platner Accused of Breaking Into Woman’s House, Sexually Assaulting Her; Campaign Canceled Multiple Events Over Weekend; Source: Platner Dropping Out This Week?!’ Well, let’s hope that this accusation against Platner proves to be false. It would be nice to see him drop out, but that is really irrelevant; the Democrats would just nominate somebody who, philosophically and politically, is equally rotten, but who maybe could avoid all the accusations of misconduct that have plagued Platner. Regardless of that, my question for this article is how did the Democrats become so vile as to get to a point where they would nominate people like Graham Platner in the first place? How did they sink to the putrid immoral depths they have degenerated to? And screaming, ‘Look how terrible Donald Trump is!’ is not an answer.” (07/08/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2026/07/08/why-are-democrats-so-evil-n2678997
- New Data Show Rising Demand for Innovative Schooling Models
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kerry McDonald“Demand for new schooling models continues to climb, and entrepreneurial educators plan to grow to meet that demand. That is the key takeaway from a recent survey of school founders conducted by our team here at FEE’s Education Entrepreneurship Lab. This spring, we asked the 200+ applicants to last year’s FEE Enterprising Founding Award to complete a survey about the status of their innovative schools and learning spaces, including private schools, microschools, hybrid schools, homeschooling collaboratives, and online learning platforms. More than 70 school founders responded, offering eye-opening insights about the current landscape of emerging schooling models and its future direction.” (07/08/26)
https://fee.org/articles/new-data-show-rising-demand-for-innovative-schooling-models/
- Rebuilding the bedrock for NATO security
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“This week, many eyes – at least when not glued to the World Cup soccer matches onscreen – are on Ankara, Turkey. There, the heads of NATO’s 32 member countries are gathered for the transatlantic alliance’s annual summit, amid a rather fractious atmosphere. Some 1,400 miles away, in Geneva, thousands of representatives from the United Nations’ 190-plus members are attending the first all-nations Global Dialogue on AI Governance. The mood there, in the search for shared approaches to safeguard against potentially negative impacts from artificial intelligence, is rather more collegial. And this same week, out of the limelight, it has emerged that quiet coordination among 59 countries has produced yet another successful crackdown on global human trafficking. The BBC reported Monday that 1,024 people were arrested and at least 2,070 individuals were aided through an operation led by Interpol, the international law enforcement network.” (07/07/26)
- How to Make the CDC Great Again
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Joseph Marine“Afew months ago, I was one of several candidates under consideration for Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While I did not make the final cut, I was honored to be considered for such an important position. The administration has nominated a highly qualified team to lead the CDC and I wish them well. The experience gave me the opportunity to reflect on what reforms I would like to see at the CDC as it faces a pivot point in the history of medicine and public health. Here are six themes that I see as most important and urgent.” (07/08/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/how-to-make-the-cdc-great-again/
- Cure For Despair: Awe, Wonder & Humility
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“It is true that there is unfathomable cruelty in this world that will bring you crashing to your knees. And it is true that we are ruled by monsters with deeply entrenched power. But it is also true that we live in a mysterious universe whose ways are almost entirely unknown to us. And it is also true that we don’t really have any idea where humanity’s adventure is headed. … Our best scientists have produced no answers to any of life’s most significant questions, having to content themselves with a humble shrug over the most basic inquiries like why anything exists, what matter is, and what is the nature of consciousness.” (07/08/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/07/08/the-cure-for-despair-is-awe-wonder-and-humility/
- The Seeing Stones of Modern Warfare
Source: Law & Liberty
by Henry T Edmondson III“Would J. R. R. Tolkien be pleased to see new military technology named in honor of Middle-earth?” (07/08/26)
- Perhaps the Nazi Tattoo Was a Clue
Source: The Atlantic
by Mike Nelson“Why was this horrific allegation the threshold when [Graham] Platner had so obviously transgressed so many times before? Perhaps Platner’s Nazi tattoo should have been a sufficient indicator that he lacked the character to be a senator. Perhaps maintaining that SS logo for two decades, covering it up only when it became politically inconvenient, demonstrated that he lacked the judgment for national office. Perhaps a multiyear history of not just having abhorrent views about women and minorities, but feeling the need to post them for the world to see, could have told us that he is not the person to be Maine’s voice in Washington. Maybe a well-documented history of contemptible behavior in his personal life should have been enough, when taken with everything else, for Democrats to conclude that Platner was exactly the person he appeared to be.” (07/08/26)
- The Science of Politics, 07/08/26
Source: Niskanen Center
“The rise of small donors is mostly making politics worse.” (07/08/26)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/the-rise-of-small-donors-is-mostly-making-politics-worse/
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 07/08/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Can We Stop The Military Merger With Israel? With Guest Dennis Kuciinich.” (07/08/26)
- Homeschool Workshop, 07/08/26
Source: Homeschool Workshop
“Fixing up the lawn mower with the boys.” (07/08/26)
https://rumble.com/v7cfssm-fixing-up-the-lawn-mower-with-the-boys.html
- Rising, 07/08/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on the new allegations against Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, which have led to many Democrats calling for him to drop out.” (07/08/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5951300-rising-july-8-2026/